Sharing the goodness of god through experiences and scripture.

Faith: Believing God Despite The Odds

If God says something will happen, our faith is not in waiting to see if that thing happens, but in believing it will happen despite our circumstances.

I’ve been musing over Romans 4 and it’s account of how Abraham’s belief in what God told him was accounted to him for righteousness. I know, that’s a lot of Biblical Jargon there but what it simply means is that Abraham wasn’t considered a righteous man because he did what God instructed him to do, neither was it because of the end result of his interactions with God. He was considered a righteous man because he believed God.

Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

When God told Abraham that he and his wife would have a son and from that son Abraham would become the father of many nations he didn’t question the logistics behind that promise. Let’s be real, here’s God telling a 75 year old man that he and his 90 year-old wife would have a child. And if that wasn’t enough the child didn’t come immediately but instead he waited a further 25 years before he saw the fulfilment of that promise.

There are a lot of lessons which can be learned when you study the book of Genesis and Abraham’s interaction with God while he waited for God’s word to be fulfilled. However, I’d like to focus on the fact that God is true to His word. When he makes a promise to us he is faithful to keep it. What I find interesting though is how easy it is to disregard or question God’s promises when they don’t happen in the way or the time frame within which we desire.

As I evaluate my own life I see areas where I would have doubted God and the promises He’s made to me. So many times – especially when I felt down – I questioned whether the things God has spoken to me and has prophesied over my life were ever going to happen. I thought about the many promises in the bible that I once held dear to my heart but chose to stop hoping in because I didn’t see the evidence of them in my life presently.

Today, as I mediated on Romans 4 I felt a renewal of hope in the reminder that our faith is simply believing that God will do what he said he would do. Faith is believing that Christ will finish the work He’s started in me despite my current situation. Faith is believing the I am more than a conquerer in Christ on even on my worst days. Faith is believing that God will provide my every need once I seek Him first even when the bills are piling up and my bank account is running low.

The reality is that faith and righteousness go hand-in-hand. Whatever God has said He will do in your life believe that He will do it. Don’t let your circumstances influence your faith. If God can fulfil his promise of a child to a 100 year-old man and his 115 year-old wife, he is more than capable of doing what he said he would in your life.